Friday, May 07, 2010

No More Playing It Safe

This sounds like a direct contradiction to my post yesterday, but sometimes you just gotta let the hide go with the hair. (Now what does that expression mean, and where'd it come from?)

I've taken plenty of risks in my time, risks that for the most part have paid off. They were all calculated risks (I'm a natural born plotter of life as well as books, as you may have guessed.) But to the outside world, it looked as though I'd taken leave of my senses.

Let's see. There was the time I decided that I would stencil a border on my pale buttercup yellow walls with dark blue oil stencil paint, though I'd never stenciled so much as a label in my life. My mama nearly had a heart attack. But it turned out beautifully. (I'd watched a This Old House Episode.)

There was the time I took a job with a $5K pay increase, when I had no clue what on earth I'd be doing. But it sounded fun.

There was the time I decided to go round the world to adopt The Kiddo. People kept asking me, "Why don't you get an AMERICAN baby?" I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful blessing of a daughter, a true gift from God.

There was the time I told that editor, "Sure, I can revise this book and change everything from Chapter Three on and have it to you by October." (It was late May.) It wound up being the first book I ever sold.

But even with those risk-taking propensities, I still find myself playing it safe. I'd been following the news of Nashville. I'd heard the call for writers to donate their time and expertise. I kept thinking, "Who'd want to bid on anything from me?"

Then The Husband texted me that the Grand Ol' Opry was six feet under water and that 19 people had lost their lives. It showed me what a cowardly yellow-belly I was being.

I've sent up some smoke signals to the Do The Write Thing organizers, indicating my willingness to donate a critique partial and maybe, a la Michelle Wolfson, a 30 minute phone conversation. Don't know if they still need it, don't know if they even want it, but I'm in.

And I'm praying for both Nashville and those folks who will be suffering because of the oil spill in the Gulf.

Well roll on with your brave self ;) How about painting the town red? Have you done that a few times? Hmmm...wherever did that saying "paint the town red" come from? Of all my days in the south (and yes, I mean all of my days) I have never heard the expression "gotta let the hide go with the hair."

Tennessee and the Gulf are in my prayers. The Gulf of Mexico is one of my true loves :(

Whoever wants to affiliate with my blog or for us to follow each other's blogs on Blogger, let me know! I'm willing to return the favor, I mean we could all use some more traffic & readers on our blogs.http://deedee1whoa.blogspot.com/

I'd always heard it as 'hair go with the hide," but the other seems more logical. As I thought, it's Cracker Talk from the old country - Scotland, Ireland, and any English person with a dab of humility. Either way it saves the pelt whole. Cowhide chair bottoms that I saw still had some hair. Hog killings involved scalding and removing the hair.

Don't you just hate it when someone spends more time on trivia than the real subject.

I'm wondering when I will get a letter from Red Cross about helping Nashville.

Julie, ooooh, can't wait to see what it is! Have been shamefully short of time to enjoy all my favorite blogs this week. And thanks for the warm wishes for Mother's Day.

Dee Dee, you can never have too many bloggy friends, can you? Thanks for stopping by.

Bill, I'm always backwards, aren't I? Guess I'm a cracker after all. I'm an English/German mutt, but hopefully I'm humble! And that was pretty interesting. See? This is the reason I can't use the Oxford English Dictionary, because I'd never surface from all the lovely info about when words were first used.

Fantastic post. Love hearing the brave choices you made! And how well you were rewarded for them. A wonderful thing to think about--not playing it safe, taking chances, and realizing we have so much more to offer than we think. Thanks for this!

Background

About Me

I'm an author, a mom to my daughter (heretofore referred to as The Kiddo), a wife, and a full-time workin' woman on my dayjob.
I write for Harlequin Superromance -- and this is my very undisciplined blog.